Saving Water, One Shirt at a Time

Water resources have dominated weather news on the West Coast for the last several months. Debate has been raging on how those resources are allocated to agriculture and to the public at large. While we’re not going to enter the fray, we would like to announce some good news on the environmental front.

In order to bolster sustainability on our annual week long event, Cycle Oregon has partnered with Looptworks, an industry leader in low-impact design, to create our Hell on Wheels ride t-shirts. Looptworks created the t-shirts out of premium textile industry excess that was destined to be landfilled or incinerated. Since they are made from what already exists, each shirt conserves the 400 gallons of water that are required to create a new cotton t-shirt. That’s almost a million gallons on Cycle Oregon alone.

“Every year, the fashion industry throws out 40 billion pounds of material, much of it perfectly usable,” says Looptworks founder Scott Hamlin. “And when you consider the amount of water and energy it takes to make that material in the first place, that impact really starts to add up. It’s an incredibly wasteful process and a big opportunity for us.”

As a certified B Corp, Looptworks believes that business can be a powerful force for good. Their mission, to use what already exists, has lead to some interesting partnerships and projects. Recently, Looptworks partnered with Southwest Airlines to convert 80,000 old leather seat covers into the LUV Seat Collection, which includes a backpack, tote bag, duffle bag, and toiletry case. Learn more about the project here: